Total Drama: Stormbound
by The Feline Overlord
Summary: In a world ruled by the mythical creatures of the world, twelve teenaged animals are brought to the mysterious island of Ventallan. They will compete in dangerous challenges to win ten thousand gold pieces in this new show hosted by Nimbus the thunderbird.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama. Life is full of disappointments.**

 **Dear Readers: Here we go with my biggest project to date! I've been wanting to do an OC season for a while.**

 **Credit to GirlPower54 for giving me the idea to use non-human contestants, but I do believe I put my own fantasy spin on this story.**

 **Also, Churro (one of the characters you will soon meet) belongs to slush73212.**

 **Weird Update On The Author's Personal Life: So excited for the new Total Drama season! Eva better be in it...**

 **Warning: This story will contain a homosexual couple as one of the main plot points, so if you're uncomfortable with that this may not be the story for you. I hope you'll give it a try, though.**

Two hundred years ago, the humans had fallen. The dominant species for so long, their own greed had led to their downfall. Borders, rules, and even compassion had no meaning. They turned on each other. Great cities were levelled, toxic chemicals were released, and civilization was torn apart in a bloody World War III.

Humans had a natural affinity for technology, which was the elemental opposite of the magical power held by the mythic beasts of the world. Back when the humans ruled the world, technology was everywhere. The beasts were forced into hiding, repelled by the power of the humans' innovations. The magic of the world disappeared along with them. But the great war allowed these magical creatures to awaken once more. After being stored for so long, the magic was released into the world again as the beasts began to stir.

This energy affected the entire world. In areas with high concentration of magic, there was a chance that the animals living in the area would gain a magical affinity. This affected different animals in different ways. Increased intelligence, walking on hind legs and opposable thumbs were common, but other powers such as control over the elements, increased physical prowess, poison, and more were seen. These magical animals were known as the Enlightened, while those unaffected by magic were scornfully referred to as Ferals. Ferals were kept as livestock or left to roam the wilds, blissfully unaware of the change in the world's ownership.

The mythical creatures rebuilt the world, creating great new civilizations, and welcomed the Enlightened into their society. In two hundred years the world has undergone great changes, but the greatest new trend in magical entertainment is only just beginning…

* * *

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and dark clouds gathered in the sky. A torrential rain fell onto the beach of the small island. Suddenly, there was a loud screech, like that of a bird of prey.

A large, bright yellow bird burst onto the scene, accompanied by a guitar riff. He had a crest of long, trailing blue feathers like a mohawk on his head, and his wing feathers were tipped in blue and jagged like lightning bolts. "Yo, Nimbus here," he shouted over the wind.

Nimbus grinned at the camera. The thunderbird was wearing a black leather vest and tan shorts, and had a pair of sunglasses on his forehead.

"Welcome to Stormbound, a revolutionary new addition to reality shows. Over the next month, we will be taking twelve campers here to Camp Ventallan for a one-of-a-kind summer camp experience. These teenaged mythical creatures will compete in intense challenges." Nimbus swooped down to the beach, where an obstacle course had been set up. "Brave the harsh conditions." Nimbus raised his wings, causing lightning to flash in the sky. "And face the judgement of their peers in our totally dramatic campfire ceremonies, copyright pending." Nimbus soared over a campfire pit with stumps arranged around it. "One by one they will be voted out, until one remains. That lucky creature will be the winner of a small hoard of ten thousand gold." Two interns, a winged squirrel and a raven, came in carrying a chest filled with gold coins. "This is, Total! Drama! Stormbound!"

Right before the camera cut off, Nimbus got hit in the head with a hailstone. "Ow! Seriously?"

* * *

"Coming live from Camp Ventallan, this is Total Drama Stormbound!" announced a small raven. She was lanky, with long legs and scruffy black feathers. "I'm Nyla, and this is Blitz." She gestured with a feathery hand to a creature besides her.

Blitz was a red squirrel, slightly shorter than Nyla. She was shifting back and forth nervously, fluttering the pair of furry wings on her back. Both creatures were wearing the same blue shirts with a front pocket and gray shorts, marking them as interns. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked the flying squirrel.

"I'm positive," Nyla affirmed. She continued to the camera, "We're the interns on the show, and Nimbus didn't think we were important enough to introduce." She made a face.

"You'll probably be seeing a lot of us during the show, so we- well, _Nyla_ wanted us to introduce ourselves," Blitz added. "So, um, hi."

"Interns!", a voice hollered. The two exchanged glances.

Nyla chuckled. "Oh, he's mad."

"And… that's our cue to go." Blitz zipped away, her red wings a blur, with Nyla close behind.

The last thing that could be seen onscreen was a very angry thunderbird before…

The screen went blank.

* * *

The smiling wyvern hummed a tune to herself, a bottle of glitter glue in the long talons on her wings. She was sitting at a long wooden table, carefully applying the finishing touches to a white banner. It depicted a yellow logo with a sparkly gold unicorn rearing. Nearby was a similar banner, this one purple and showing a flying pegasus.

The wyvern had dappled scales that ranged from a warm gold to a deep brown and bright green eyes. She wore a white Camp Ventallan t-shirt and hot pink shorts. The shirt had "Camp Counselor" on the back, which looked like it was also written in glitter glue.

Nimbus flew through the door, followed by a chihuahua wearing a tiny sombrero on one of his ears. "How are the banners going, Agate?" Nimbus asked the wyvern.

"Great!" she chirped. "I'm almost done."

The thunderbird nodded in approval. "Cool. They're very … um, glittery."

"Yeah, I think the kids will love them."

"Um, what do you think, Churro?" Nimbus looked down at the chihuahua.

"Horses? Really?" Churro shook his head. "Little girls like horses! They're teenagers!"

Agate's face fell and she looked down at her bottle of glitter glue.

He thought for a moment. "But then again, it will be pretty funny to see the kids react to stupid banners. Horses it is." Nimbus smiled as Churro nodded approvingly. The chihuahua strode off.

Nimbus picked up the pegasus banner, while Agate held up the unicorn one, now completed. He explained to the camera, "Upon reaching the camp, our competitors will be split into two teams: The Soaring Pegasi, and the Prancing Unicorns. Agate chose the names." The wyvern grinned sheepishly. "These teams will compete against each other in challenges that will test their strength, skill, and ability to work together. The losing team will have to vote someone off of the island, never to return again."

"Never? Wait, how about the-" Agate chimed in, before Nimbus covered her mouth.

"They didn't need to know that!"

* * *

 **Five years ago…**

"Do you like it?" a blue thunderbird asked Nimbus. She was older than him, and her feathers were bright blue. She wore a dark gray hoodie with the word 'fly' written on it. "I figured you liked human stuff, and this one looked pretty funny," the thunderbird, Stralia, explained.

Nimbus studied the box in his talons. "Thanks, sis. This looks hilarious. Classic humans." He snorted, and turned the box over. "Total Drama Island," he read. "It's a reality show." He knew by now that humans kept their videos in discs, which often came in boxes like this one. "Let's watch it now," he decided.

"I'll get the mice and crackers." Stralia breezed away.

The two watched Total Drama Island while munching on dried rodents. Stralia mostly was laughing at the humans' primitive technology (and beliefs, and ways of talking, and faces, and…) but Nimbus was thinking. The concept of the show seemed interesting enough, and he bet that he might be able to do it better.

 **Two years later…**

"I've done it, Lia! You need to see this!"

"Nice seeing you too, little bro," Stralia teased. "What's been going on with you. You look taller."

"I have big news," the two thunderbirds said at the same time.

"You go first," Stralia offered.

"Remember … Total Drama?"

"You mean that human game show video I got you?"

"Yeah, that one. I've been thinking, what if I did something like that. I could find an island, hire a psychotic chef and some snarky interns, use the ol' thunderbird weather tricks on the campers, and boom! We got a show."

Stralia nodded, but something seemed to be worrying her.

Nimbus continued. "I thought you could co-host the show with me. It would be awesome to have an experienced performer help out. If you want to, of course."

"I'd love to, but I have news too," Stralia said. "I got a record deal."

Nimbus' eyes widened. "You what?"

"Chimera Records says they like my style. I'm going to be working with them on my first album."

"That's so cool, Lia!"

"Yeah, I still can't believe it. But it means I'll be really busy."

"So you can't come on the show?"

"I'd love to, but music is my thing. I have to do this."

Her thing. Nimbus' sister knew. She had found something, a passion of hers, and made it big just like their parents. But he, on the other hand, was barely staying afloat. "That's fine." He tried to contain his disappointment. "I know this is important to you."

"Thank you, and good luck on your show. I'm sure it will be awesome."

Nimbus nodded. He didn't need a rising pop star to become famous; he could do it on his own. He'd show her, he'd show them all.

* * *

I can never remember characters in OC stories, so here's your cheat sheet, as well as being a little spoiler about the cast.

 **Contestants**

 **Ash the Enlightened cat - The Friendly Intellectual**

 **Cirrus the gryphon - The Rebel Princess**

 **Dusk the Enlightened bat - The Passive Pessimist**

 **Frost the kitsune - The Scheming Loner**

 **Glade the timberwolf - The Laid-Back Athlete**

 **Luna the Western dragon - The Guardian**

 **Magnolia the plant golem - The Whiny Actor**

 **Paradise the Enlightened chameleon - The Secretive Beauty Queen**

 **Scorch the phoenix - The Narcissistic Cool Guy**

 **Sol the Western dragon - The Diplomat**

 **Terra the dire badger - The Stubborn Feminist**

 **Tide the telkhine - The Cheerful Acrobat**

 **Stormbound Team**

 **Nimbus the thunderbird - host**

 **Churro the Enlightened chihuahua - co-host**

 **Agate the wyvern - "recreations director"/head intern**

 **Blitz the Enlightened squirrel ("flying squirrel") - intern**

 **Nyla the half-spirit raven - intern**

And a quick world-building note: the mythical creatures' society has around the same "technology" level as current human civilizations, but using magic instead of tech. Another thing, the prize is only ten thousand gold because I'm assuming one gold coin is worth more than one dollar.

* * *

 **So, how was it? This was a very different concept, I believe. Hopefully it was interesting and not weird. Please leave a review, I'd love to hear what you think.**


	2. Episode 1: A Blustery Beginning Part 1

**Dear Readers: I'm so happy I finally got this done, and I'm pretty proud of it.**

 **Weird Update On The Author's Personal Life: Sleep, wherefore art thou?**

* * *

"You can do this, Nimbus." The thunderbird paced nervously, talking to no one in particular.

"Nimbus! We're about to start!" Agate opened the door to the trailer, peeking inside. Nimbus was now adjusting his leather vest in front of the mirror.

"I'm ready." Nimbus nodded to the eager wyvern.

The two flew to the beach of the island-camp. In the distance, it looked like there was a boat being tossed by the waves. Oh wait, it was probably just a shark or something.

"We're rolling in three … two …" A manticore carrying a tripod aimed it at Nimbus, while a harpy circled above holding a microphone.

Nimbus landed in front of the camera crew, the long feathers on his head blowing in the wind. He took a deep breath.

"… and, we're on!"

* * *

"Welcome to Camp Ventallan," Nimbus shouted over the wind. "Here on Total Drama: Stormbound, twelve teenaged mythical creatures will be competing for a chance to win ten thousand gold."

Camp Ventallan was really just a pair of run-down cabins with a campfire pit between them. Nimbus' trailer was hidden behind some trees. The sky had darkened, and the ocean churned as the wind howled in the background.

"Here come our contestants now," Nimbus announced, starting to gain confidence. A speedboat was headed towards the dock, driven by a chihuahua wearing a tiny sombrero on one of his ears. He held the boat's tiller in his teeth, steering the boat to the dock. The six teenagers crammed into the boat screamed as a wave crashed over the side of the little craft.

"Incoming!" yelled the chihuahua as the speedboat swerved up to the dock, splashing Nimbus with water.

Nimbus spluttered, trying to shake the water off of his feathers. "Churro!" he scolded.

Churro grinned. "Just doin' my job here." He leapt off of the boat and turned to the dripping, surprised contestants. "What are ya waiting for? Off the boat! Andale!"

"How about the others?" Nimbus asked Churro.

"Tell the interns to keep circling with them. We'll introduce the others once we're done with this lot.

"Isn't that a bit harsh? They could get hurt out there." Nimbus looked concerned.

"Kids gettin' hurt makes for good entertainment." Churro waved a paw dismissively. "Just look at them. They're dripping. It's hilarious."

"If you say so."

* * *

"Somebody help us!" In a second speedboat containing six more campers, Blitz and Nyla were struggling against the waves. The flying squirrel and the raven clutched each other.

* * *

A large orange bird with a red bandana tied around his neck was the first one onto the beach. He landed besides Nimbus with his wings outstretched dramatically.

"Welcome, Scorch," Nimbus greeted the phoenix.

"Hey, Nimbus." Scorch looked around. "This is it?"

"Yes… What were you expecting?"

"This place looked way cooler on the flyers. But it doesn't matter. I don't need a fancy place to stay, I'm here win this thing." He struck a pose.

"Someone's confident," Nimbus muttered.

On the dock, Churro pushed one of the other teenagers forwards. He had selected a brown-furred bat, who compliantly shuffled forwards to meet Nimbus, his hands in his pockets.

"Do we just have to wait here while you introduce the others one by one?" asked a badger, pacing the dock.

"It seems rather inefficient," a vulpine humanoid with a blue tint to his fur added.

"Well, since you two are so eager, go ahead!" Churro roughly nudged the blue fox forwards, and was about to do the same to the badger when she glared at him.

Terra reared up onto her hind legs. "Don't."

Despite Terra towering over the chihuahua, Churro didn't back down. He bared his teeth and the two continued to stare each other down.

"So, how are you, Dusk?" Nimbus prompted.

"Fine." Dusk, the rumpled looking bat, shrugged. He sat down on a rock next to Scorch.

Nimbus shrugged.

Back on the dock, the fox cleared his throat.

"We're waiting!" Nimbus called.

Terra scoffed at Churro and flounced over to the other contestants. Frost followed, his half cape and three long tails trailing behind him.

"Welcome, Terra. Oh, and Frost too? Both of you? …that wasn't on the script," Nimbus muttered to himself.

"Blame the midget dog," Terra retorted.

Frost said nothing, only looking around at the others. He seemed to be deep in thought.

Scorch was waving at a female gryphon on the dock, who responded by flipping him off, while Dusk was still sitting on the rock and staring sleepily into space.

Terra huffed and turned away, sitting away from the others.

Nimbus fluffed up his feathers, going over to the contestants. "That's it? No 'glad to be here'? No 'how are you, Nimbus'? Not even 'the weather is lovely today?'"

"The weather is horrible," Terra said bluntly.

After a few moments of silence, Nimbus finally signaled for Churro to send the next contestant over.

A creature that looked to be more plant than animal walked down the dock. She had light green skin and purple flower petals for hair. Two vines, each ending in a purple flower, swayed behind her. She eyed Nimbus and the other contestants with a mixture of curiosity and doubt.

"Magnolia! Welcome to the island!"

The plant golem smiled. "Please call me Megna." She greeted the other contestants. "Hi."

Terra grunted in acknowledgement. Scorch was too busy trying to get the gryphon's attention, and now was doing some loops in the sky.

"Hello? Guys?"

Frost looked up. "Hello." He then returned to … whatever it was in the distance he was staring at.

Megna frowned and sat down next to Dusk. "Hello, I'm Megna."

"Dusk."

"Nice to find someone friendly here. Everyone's so _rude._ "

Dusk shrugged.

Out over the sea, the wind started to get stronger and the water choppier. "Should we-" Nimbus asked Churro, squinting to try and locate the second speedboat.

"Nah. Makes it more dramatic." Churro's ears perked up as thunder rumbled in the distance. "Yep, can't get better intense background noise than that." Nimbus noticed that Churro seemed to be more alert.

In the water, Nyla and Blitz were still trying to keep the boat in control.

Suddenly, a stray bolt of lightning struck the speedboat. It promptly exploded, sending all of the contestants flying.

Churro was the first to react. "I'll get them!" He took a flying leap into the docked speedboat. "Just keep introducing people."

Nimbus nodded.

The gryphon walked down the dock, still making a point of completely ignoring Scorch.

"Our next contestant, Cirrus!", Nimbus announced.

She had a sharp beak and golden brown wings folded neatly behind her back, and her lion's tail lashed idly behind her. She was wearing jeans and a bright red shirt. Cirrus stalked over to where the others were standing.

Scorch strutted up to Cirrus, flashing a grin at her. He would've been showing his teeth, if, well, birds actually _had_ teeth. "Hey," said the phoenix. "I'm Scorch. What's your name?"

"My name's Cirrus, which you would've heard if you'd been listening instead of flapping around like an idiot."

Scorch ignored the remark.

Churro had made it to the campers in the water and was starting to pull them into his boat. Due to the small size of the raven and flying squirrel, Nyla and Blitz were hauled in by Churro easily. As the two interns took wing again and pulled a gray cat from the water, Churro noticed a wolf flailing in the water. "Help! Somebody!" she cried.

"I'm coming, kid!" Churro jumped out of the boat and doggy paddled over to the timber wolf. He grabbed the back of her floral-patterned shirt in his teeth and started to swim back to the boat. By then a chameleon girl, her scales faded to the same pale gray as the sky, had also been helped aboard.

The gray cat helped Churro and the timber wolf onboard. "Thank you!" The timberwolf gratefully accepted his paw and climbed onto the boat, her gray-green fur dripping.

"No problem. I'm Ash, by the way."

"My name's Glade." She smiled.

"Anyone make it to shore?" Churro yelled over the storm, looking around for anyone still in the water. "Where are the dragon twins?"

"We've got Sol and Luna!" Nimbus shouted back. Two dragons, who were able to fly to the island, now sat huddled together near the others. Sol had bright gold scales while Luna's were pale silver.

"Oh, there's Tide!" Sol pointed at a dark brown creature cutting through the stormy water at an impressive speed.

Tide reached shore and shook himself off, then bounded over. He was a telkhine, having sleek brown fur and a thick tail with a fin at the end. He was wearing aqua blue shorts and a white t-shirt. The dog/seal mixture pumped a webbed fist in the air. "Woo, we made it!"

"They got the dragons and the swimmer dog-thing. We have one, two, three," Churro said to himself, looking from Glade and Ash chatting to the chameleon, who was shivering and slightly blue. "You okay, Paradise?"

"No. I'm all wet! We could've at least been on an island with nicer weather."

Churro shrugged. "It's not my fault that you've got cold blood."

"What- hey!"

Churro walked over to the tiller and slammed his paw onto the engine, causing it to sputter. "Let's get dry, everyone." The campers, along with Blitz and Nyla, cheered halfheartedly.

The boat lurched forwards, causing the campers to lose their balance. "Land ho!" Churro yelled.

"You just saved us, are you really going to kill us now?" Paradise yelled, clinging to the side of the speedboat. They looked like they were going to run up into the sand, but a large wave pushed the boat sideways and it slammed against the dock. The engine started smoking.

"That can't be good," deadpanned Nyla.

"Fly!" Blitz launched herself out of the boat, wings outstretched. Nyla was right at her tail.

"Everyone out!" Churro shoved the protesting campers onto the dock and they ran for cover. Then, for the second time, the speedboat exploded, sending Churro flying onto the beach, slightly charred. The chihuahua landed at Nimbus' feet.

"Well, you did say people getting hurt made good television," Nimbus quipped as Churro flopped down onto the sand.

Churro reared up onto his hind legs and petted Nimbus on the head. "I've taught you well." He leapt onto a rock to address the campers. "Welcome to Camp Ventallan! I'm Churro, your co-host."

"And I'm Nimbus," he added hastily. "The _main_ host."

"I'm going to ignore that," Churro stated.

"Your trip here may have been, erm, eventful," said Nimbus.

"But it's nothing compared to what you're gonna go through this next month," Churro interrupted with a grin.

"For now, though, who wants hot chocolate?"

The teenagers murmured amongst themselves. After the events of the day, they weren't exactly eager to see what was in store for them next. But it _was_ chocolate.

As they walked to the mess hall, some campers decided to catch up while others walked alone.

"So, who's excited to be spending the next month … here?" Cirrus asked sarcastically, gesturing to the run-down building they were headed towards.

"I've been in worse places than some stupid island in the middle of nowhere," Terra replied.

"Camp Ventallan," Sol translated.

"I know that," Terra snapped.

"Okay," he said meekly.

Luna, who was walking up ahead, looked up.

"How are you doing, Paradise?", Sol asked the chameleon.

"C-cold and wet. Ugh, and my skirt is all ruined."

"You were caught in an exploding speedboat, and all you care about is your _skirt?"_ Terra scoffed.

"I never said that." Paradise responded coolly, wringing out the hem of her shirt. "I was simply making an observation. The explosion sucked too."

Up ahead, Sol and Luna were talking as they followed the rest of the group. "I don't like that badger girl," Luna stated bluntly.

"Terra? Maybe she just takes a while to warm up to others?" Sol suggested.

"She's a bully. You have to promise not to let her push you around."

"I didn't think she was that bad?"

Luna looked sternly at him. "Let's just stick together. We've got twice the chances of winning, but we can't let anyone walk all over us."

"Hurry up!" Terra barked at Paradise.

Everyone (eventually) made it to the Mess Hall, a large building with two long wooden tables. Agate the wyvern handed out mugs of hot chocolate.

"Hello everyone! I'm Agate, one of your counselors," she introduced herself. "I hope I can get to know all of you this summer, and it's my job to make sure that you have fun here at Camp Ventallan and make some new friends."

A few of the campers smiled at the seemingly humane counselor. Or maybe it was just the hot chocolate.

"And it's my job to make sure this show isn't completely _boring_ ," Churro added. "It's Total Drama, not Total Cuddlefest. "Oh, and I'm the head chef around here."

"Is that why there's a jalapeño in my hot chocolate?" Frost pulled a green pepper out of his mug.

"Aw, come on! You ruined the surprise!"

"Now, we have some important business to attend to," Nimbus said. Lightning flashed dramatically behind him- a benefit of being a thunderbird. Several of the campers gasped.

"We're sorting you into teams!" Blitz and Nyla came in at Nimbus' words carrying two large banners.

"Someone close the door, you're letting all the cold air in," Megna said as the interns dragged the large banners in.

"I got it, ladies." Scorch took both banners and kicked the door shut with his talon. Terra rolled her eyes.

"Thanks, man." Nimbus took the banners from Scorch. "If I call your name, stand next to Agate on the left.

"Terra." The badger huffed and stood up.

"Frost." He got up wordlessly, tossing the jalapeño into a nearby trash can.

"Magnolia." She walked over and greeted Agate.

"Sol and Ash." Ash waved goodbye to Glade, who had been fussing over him since the speedboat incident. Sol smiled at his team, but cast a worried glance back at Luna.

"And Paradise." She stood by the rest of them, not seeming particularly interested in the others.

"You are now," Nimbus started as Agate unrolled one of the banners. "The Soaring Pegasi!" It was purple and had a circular logo of a glittery flying winged horse.

"Seriously? That's the best you could do?" Terra said.

"We were also considering 'Giggling Carbuncles' and 'Team Churro's Da Bomb' if that makes you feel any better," Nimbus offered, shrugging.

"I happen to like the name," said Megna.

"And the banner's pretty neat," Sol added. "Did you make it?"

"I did," Agate said proudly, holding it up to the light.

"Everyone else." Nimbus gestured to the remaining teens. "You are now-"

"Wait!" Luna interrupted. "I'm not on a team with my brother?"

"I'm afraid so," Nimbus confirmed.

"But I can't be- he can't compete alone! I promised Dad!"

Ash raised a paw. "I'll switch with you," he offered.

Luna gave the feline a grateful look. "Will you allow it?", she asked Nimbus hopefully, standing up straighter.

The thunderbird thought for a moment, appearing to be swayed. "I'll have to think about it…" He looked down at Churro.

The chihuahua shook his head.

"We are not going to allow it. I apologize."

Luna's face fell and she glanced at Sol again.

"Um, if it makes you feel better, you'll still see each other during meals and challenges," Nimbus said awkwardly, looking a little guilty.

Sol walked over to his sister. "I'll be fine. It's just a competition."

Churro chuckled to himself.

"Good luck."

"Same to you." The dragon twins shook hands and returned to their respective sides.

"Now that we have that resolved, we have other things to do. Tide, Cirrus, Luna, Glade, Scorch, and Dusk, you- well, you're all over there already. You are now, the Prancing Unicorns."

Churro had the banner between his front paws. "Catch." He flicked it expertly over to Dusk, who was sleepily staring off into space. It landed at his feet.

"Huh?" Dusk picked up the banner and showed it to the others. It had a glittery yellow logo in a similar style to the first banner, but of a rearing unicorn.

"Nice!" Tide smiled as he admired the banner.

"Everyone, go to your new cabins and upack. Girls on one side, boys on the other. Don't try anything funny…" Nimbus' stern gaze swept across the twelve teenagers.

"And you might want to move quickly." Churro turned his head to indicate the gathering clouds. "There's a storm coming."

"That reminds me," said Nimbus. "Due to the, um, unusual weather, there will be no challenge today. No one will be voted off."

Churro shot him a surprised look, while some of the campers seemed relieved. No one wanted to be the first one out.

As the two teams left for their cabins, led by Agate, Churro confronted Nimbus. "Are you crazy?"

"For cancelling the challenge? That _storm_ is going to be crazy. I feel it." Nimbus shot back defensively, flustered by the sudden outburst.

"You're a thunderbird. Why can't you just, you know-". Churro waved a paw, referring to Nimbus' magic.

"On something of that scale? The most I could do is redirect the lightning, and it would take a lot of energy." Nimbus ran a talon through the feathers on his head. "And I have to look fresh for hosting," he joked.

Churro rolled his eyes. "I know you're just looking for excuses. You want to go easy on 'em since it's the first challenge. You're too soft, _pajarito_."

Nimbus tried to protest, but was shushed by Churro.

"You see a storm, I see an opportunity. Competing in that will make 'em stronger."

"It could be dangerous, and we already had the incident with the speedboat. I don't want anyone getting hurt … too hurt," Nimbus corrected himself, remembering Churro's earlier proclamation. "We're not doing it."

"Do you want a popular show or not?"

"Yes, but-"

"It's decided! Let's do this!"

Nimbus still looked doubtful.

The campers found their cabins were three buildings arranged in a semicircle. Communal restrooms were in the center while the Prancing Unicorns' cabin was to the right of it and the Soaring Pegasi's was on the left. Each cabin was further split in half into rooms for the boys and girls, with two bunk beds in each one. Their stuff was already by their respective cabins, courtesy of Blitz and Nyla.

In the girls' side of the Pegasi cabin, Terra immediately grabbed her bag and threw it on one of the lower bunks. Paradise went to the other one, leaving her large floral print suitcase against the foot of the bed and climbing up the wall. Chameleons were weird like that.

Megna had taken it upon herself to hang up the banner. She found the perfect place and straightened it before walking in. "So, either of you want to share?" She asked, slightly miffed.

Terra grunted.

Megna went over to Paradise and sat down on the bunk underneath the chameleon.

"Don't touch my stuff." Paradise looked down at Megna.

Megna sighed, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.

The Pegasi boys had settled down. Sol and Ash were bunking together with Sol on the top, while Frost had his own bed.

"How are you doing?" Sol was lying stomach first on his bed, head draping over the bed to talk to Ash.

"I'm pretty good." The gray-striped cat gave a lopsided grin and adjusted the collar of his shirt. "Are you missing your sister?"

"She's just over there if I want to see her." Sol gestured in the direction of the Unicorn cabins. He shifted to wave to Frost. "How are you? Frost, right?"

"I'm fine," the blue kitsune said curtly. Frost was reading a book, and barely looked up.

"That's good," Sol said with a warm smile, though it was lost on the fox.

The Prancing Unicorns, in contrast, were a lot more enthusiastic. Tide bounced all the way to the cabin, and Scorch flew above him. "Race you there!", he yelled back at the others, speeding through the air.

Cirrus caught up to him quickly, her wings tucked in a neat dive. As they shot towards the cabins, Luna, Tide, and Glade all ran behind them. Dusk simply walked, shielding himself from the wind with the team's banner. "Meh."

Cirrus was the first to the cabin. She did a little twirl as she slammed a talon onto the building's door. As Scorch landed, Cirrus smirked. "Better luck next time, Chicken Legs. Let that be a little preview of what the competition will be like."

Scorch frowned and Glade, who had just caught up, looked uncomfortable.

Tide stepped between Scorch and Cirrus. "You two are fast! We'll make an awesome team."

"Y-yeah!" agreed Glade. She gave the telkhine a grateful smile.

Dusk hung the banner outside the cabin. The yellow unicorn shone proudly. "Um, can we co inside now?"

Luna nodded distantly. "That's probably a good idea."

"Ooh, I call top bunk!" Tide hopped up onto the bed, while Scorch quickly claimed the other.

Dusk stood in the middle, looking a little lost. Tide called him over. "You can take this bed." He pointed at the bunk underneath him with a webbed paw.

"Thanks." Dusk grabbed onto the top of the bed with his feet and wrapped himself in his sheets. He was soon asleep, hanging upside down from the bed frame.

Tide and Scorch exchanged amused glances, and Tide put a finger to his lips jokingly.

On the girls' side, Cirrus had put her stuff on a lower bunk while sitting on the top.

"You can't just claim a whole bed for yourself," said Luna.

Cirrus didn't miss a beat. "You two seem to get along, I just thought you would want to bunk together."

"It's still not fair to us!" Luna yelled.

Glade looked from Cirrus to Luna. "It's fine, we can share a bunk," she told the silver dragon. She looked hopefully at Luna as Cirrus glared at both of them.

Outside the door, the trio heard a rapid, insistent knocking. Glade leapt off of her top bunk. I'll get it." She ran to the door and opened it.

Blitz flopped forwards into the cabin.

Luna rushed over. "Blitz!"

Cirrus prodded the squirrel with a paw.

Blitz jumped into the air, doing a few loops before hovering at eye level. "I'm up! N-Nimbus has a message f-for you."

Nyla materialized from the shadows in the corner of Frost, Sol, and Ash's room.

Frost's ears perked up and swiveled in the raven's direction, but the kitsune himself didn't look up from his book. "This is the boys' room," he said flatly.

Sol started. "Nyla, right? Wow, how did you get in here?"

"I came through the wall." She grinned mischievously. "Nimbus sent me to tell you something.

Nimbus was sitting on a toilet (with a closed lid, of course, because eww toilets) in a small room with wooden walls. "This is the Confessional," he explained. "Campers can come here to spill their darkest secrets and their thoughts on the game."

* * *

 **Confessional**

"I have to admit, I'm not sure if Nimbus has what it takes to host," said Churro. "He just doesn't have the sadism to take it rough on the kids, like I do. He might be getting too attached to them." Churro looked around at the flies that had been attracted. One of them got too close to his face. He punched it, causing it to fall to the ground. He wrinkled his nose. "This place is _gross_. Good for the ratings, at least."

* * *

"I'm pretty glad to be here," said Glade. "I don't know if I'll win, but I'm happy just having this experience. And some of the others here are really nice, like Ash and Luna. I spent a lot of my youth in the wild with a pack of Feral wolves. I think that the Ferals deserve more respect and I'm playing to spread awareness."

* * *

Dusk hung upside down from the Confessional roof, his eyes half closed. "Yeah, today was okay. I don't think I'll be able to remember everyone's names."

* * *

"I am confident in my ability to win challenges and to hold my own come the merge," Frost explained. "But if I want to make it _to_ the merge I will have to improve my social game. Sol and Ash aren't that bad, but becoming too attached to my allies may lead to my downfall. _I_ am the only person on this island that I can truly trust.

* * *

Megna recoiled at the flies and the nastier bits of the Confessional. "Ew, ew, ew. This is so gross. I can't believe I signed up for this. It's not _fair._ "

* * *

"Yeah, I've got this one in the bag." Scorch reclined, wings behind his head. "My team's pretty strong. Tide's cool, and that dragon chick seemed alright. And Cirrus?" He grinned. "She loves me."

* * *

"We are utterly screwed," Terra said. "I'm on a team of _weak idiots_. Well, the kitsune seemed like he could hold his own, but he seems kinda shifty. Besides him, my team is just a bunch of wimps. Even I can't carry _all_ their sorry butts to the merge. Paradise is the worst, though. Stupid living gender stereotype."

* * *

"I'm so excited!" Tide twirled around. "I can't wait to see what kind of challenges we're going to do. It's too bad the challenge was cancelled, but at least I have some time to get to know my team.

* * *

Cirrus smirked confidently. "I'm ready to win. As much as I hate to say it, though, I need allies. Scorch is an obvious choice, I'm sure he'd listen to me. Now if only I could _stand_ the bonehead then that would be perfect."

* * *

"I don't like Cirrus. She gives me this weird vibe. So does Terra. And Churro," Luna listed, counting on her claws. "And most Ferals. And scorpions. Oh, and those weird sample size body lotions they have at hotels." She glanced around. "I hope Sol's doing alright."

* * *

"First day here and I'm actually making friends," Ash said excitedly. "I'm glad to be here, and I hope I win so that I can use the money to fund magical studies to better the world."

* * *

"Everyone seems to be getting along fine," Sol noted. "I like our team. I hope Luna will be fine, though. Sucks that she's not on my team."

* * *

Paradise scoffed. " _This_ is our bathroom? I prefer to spill my dark secrets in someplace a little nicer, thank you very much. Not that I'd reveal them anyways." She paused. "Where to start? I don't exactly need the money. I am more doing this out of personal pride- I inherited my current status and want to prove that I can hold my own here. It can't be _too_ hard."

 **End Confessional**

* * *

"Are you ready to call 'em out?" Churro asked. "The challenge is ready." The two of them were talking inside their trailer.

"You're still sure no one will get hurt?" Nimbus worriedly looked up at the sky. It was raining now. "The storm will only get worse."

"Relax, it'll be fine."

"If you really think so?" Nimbus stood up.

"You can thank me later."

Nimbus stuck his head outside. "Everyone, challenge time!" He earned a few confused looks as some of the campers looked outside.

"Lemme do it." Churro hollered, "Everyone get yer butts out here! We're having a surprise challenge."

Many of them looked either annoyed or completely lost, but they eventually gathered by the mess hall.

"Ooh, what are we doing?" Tide clapped his paws together.

"Scavenger hunt," Nimbus responded.

"And just because it's your first day doesn't mean we'll go easy on you," added Churro.

"Neither will the weather, it looks like," Frost noted.

"This will be interesting." deadpanned Dusk.

"I know, it's pretty great," Churro replied.

* * *

 **Whew! Almost 5000 words makes this my longest chapter so far, and hopefully I can keep up this length. Thank you for taking the time to read, I put a lot of effort into this.**

 **What are your first impressions on the cast? Who do you want to hug? To strangle? To ship? (I may or may not ship Nimbus and Churro) Be sure to review!**


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